Medora & Teddy

After we left Minot we took a leisurely drive west to Medora, ND. I heard about Medora from the GeoAstoRv couple we met last year in Shawnee, OK. They are retired & astronomy fans who have a rather impressive collection of telescopes and like to set up in National Parks and allow people to come out for stargazing.

They mentioned that they would be at Theodore Roosevelt National Park for the Summer of ’19. 

So I put it on the trip.  On the way Hunter got the urge to climb a hill. (He’s the red blip on the top left.)

So after the Rally we went to the public campground outside the park to refresh our tanks and do some quick laundry. We re-conned the National Park and decided to go in for 5 nights.

The challenge of National Parks is that CC is usually too big to fit. The park rangers said theirs is more open & the spot we reserved was 70 feet long. It looked OK so we went in. We were able to drive through the campground without incident. The campground is a big loop and the campsites are drive thru’s. They pull off the main road and the cut back sort of like little bent roads.

Here is where the day started to turn dicey…. Between the trees on the inside of the turn & on the narrow driveway we really had a tough time getting her in. Once in we could hardly make the turn without scrapping branches. The thick trees were pretty scary because they would really do damage. The branches were leaving marks, but those will buff out.

Anyway as we pulled in, trying to avoid the trees on the left the right rear tires off-tracked the driveway and slid in the grass towards a ditch. CC started to list to one side and we almost had a catastrophe.

Here’s the left front wheel off the ground.

Meanwhile the right rear wheels were in the ditch…

But after an hour of up a little, back a little, up a little, back a tad….  We got her nestled into the site.  Level and opened.

This is a National Park and has NO hookups.  We needed to make sure our batteries were fully charged by 8pm and couldn’t fire up the generator to recharge until 8am.

Actually we had no problems with battery power the new lithium’s worked flawlessly…

We began exploring the park, which is actually the Bad Lands.

FMCA Rally Minot

We’re in Rally mode. There are over 1,800 rigs here on the North Dakota State Fair Grounds. We lucked out & are on a gravel lot real close to the vendor halls. Even luckier because the power pole we are sharing with the RV’s around us has twelve 30 amp outlets and one hidden 50 amp, that nobody hooked up to. On day two I transferred our cord to that one so we are at full power. 

Had one issue. We might have extended the awning & inadvertently didn’t activate the wind sensor. Storm came through overnight & tore the “soft connect” portion of the awning. The awning is ok, its just hanging out, the arms are extended but the awning is rolled up tight. Luckily the Shade Pro Awning guys staging area was in our lot, so I walked over to see if they could fix it.

Quick assessment showed that the original “soft connect” typically goes bad over time and they ordered a better replacement. They ordered a new one, had it shipped and installed it two days later. All good now.

Rita & I attended a number of seminars & meetings and are now much smarter. Haha. But I did get some good ideas for stuff in the future. In the vendor hall I showed great restraint and only purchased the items that I was planning on prior to our arrival. CC got a water softener, step covers & a new tow bar. Credit card was hardly smoking….

The guest speaker for the rally was Sully Sullenberger and he was pretty interesting. We made new friends at the rally and reconnected with others. Hosted a couple of fellow Country Coachers at CC one night and hung out with the Gateway Getaways one evening.

Wrapping up here and heading to Medora, ND. Full hookups for a night then entering Theodore Roosevelt Nation Park for 5 nights of boondocking. Lets test those new lithium batteries out.

Gotta Get There

Well we originally planned on getting home from Mexico on Thursday afternoon then pack up CC & leave by noon on Friday. But we still needed time to finish moving stuff around in our house so Brandi & her kids can move in. Brandi got a new full time job with Cencom, the dispatch center for St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office and they have a residency requirement. Instead of her finding a new place to live she decided to move into our house and will have Jackie’s right next door to help with the kids.

So we took Friday and finished the load out. I figured we’d just get to Minot a day later. The thing with Minot is it’s an FMCA Rally. You need to get there with your black & grey tanks empty & your fresh water tank full. Since we would have Hunter with us we really needed to be ready. Three people with only 30 amp need to be prepared.

Took off Saturday at noon. Decided to forgo the new driving rule of only 300 miles a day to go ahead and crank out 450 miles two days in a row & get back on schedule. Drove 438 miles to Mason City, IA and boondocked in a Walmart parking lot. Rita & Hunter went shopping inside & stocked us up for the week.

Headed out the first thing in the morming.  Drove 460 miles and got to Jamestown, ND.  We had a full hook up site for the night so we could get ready for the Rally.  The interesting part about this site was the road in.  Over a mile of what we soon learned was typical dusty gravel North Dakota side roads.  We threw up so much dust, I couldn’t see our tow car.  No matter how slow or fast I drove.  Turns out it then rained overnight and the road was basically mud on the way out.  Poor CC she was filthy…..

Good news?  We were back on schedule.  Short drive to Minot, 170 miles, found a Blue Beacon truck wash in Minot so CC was clean again and got to the staging area around 3pm.  Bad news? So did 900 other coaches so the process to get to our spot took some time.  But it all worked out.  We got a gravel site real close to the vendor & seminar hall, so we’re happy.  Doing some exploring & dining and we’ll start the rally tomorrow

The Real Adventures Begin

This has been the start of our adventures. We bought “CC” and started playing with a blog. Tracking our adventures as we vacationed in our Country Coach. But August 1, 2019 I officially retired. After three years as an US Army MP, thirty years as a Belleville Police officer and then ten years as the Deputy Director at the SWIC Police Academy, I AM DONE!!!!

On August 1st, Rita & I took our two daughters & five grand-kids to Azul Beach Riviera Maya resort for a week of celebration, sun & fun. We got home on August 8th & spent a full day packing CC up and took Hunter, our 18 year old grandson on a inaugural trip. We will be gone for a little over 60 days and be covering 5,300 miles and 23 different stops. It will be fun.

We hope to keep the site updated so check back every once in awhile & see what we’re doing.

New website!!!

Well I'm giving it a shot. I have set up my own domain through a local ISP. Check out my new address:

 

www.theadventuresofccandme.com

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Independence Day!

Quick four day trip to celebrate Independence Day.

We went to Cuivre River State Park my sister Peg. We took our three youngest grandkids, Saxton, Mica & Kolton, their mom had to work the weekend. Peg took all her daughters & son-in-laws & 6 grandkids, they brought the popup to house the overflow.

We picked Cuivre River because it is close to home, only 60 miles or so.  And it had a beach.

It was a lot of people but it worked out pretty well. All the little kids got a long well. They did a lot of bike riding & on one trip around the campgrounds they discovered “a million tadpoles”..  So of course the and tadpole hunting, or is it tadpoling….. was on

 Unfortunately since we are apparently in monsoon season the lake was closed, ironically, first to to flooding, then due to “water conditions”.  So we adjusted, we had squirt guns, a giant ball the kids could climb in & roll. So fun was still around……

The kids went to the Junior Ranger program and talks.  Friday night was about mammals & fur.  Saturday morning was an expedition to the Big Sugar Creek & catching more tadpoles & crawdads.  Saturday afternoon was amphibians & presentation of badges….

One of the highlights of the weekend was Mica decided she wanted her training wheels off of her bike.  She didn’t want any help she insisted she wanted to do it on her own.  I was truly impressed. She battled balance & a little fear of falling but wow.  She finally beat it.

Here is an early attempt

Here's the next day, piece of cake now..

It wouldn’t be camping without s’mores & Kolton is the king of eating them.

Since the lake was closed the kids all went back to the Big Sugar Creek to beat the heat.

Just before we left I caught Saxton on the Amish bike & Mica showing off

We spent all day Sunday there, packed up early Monday & I was back to work by 1pm.  ugh

8000 Feet

We hooked the Fit onto CC.  Jackie didn’t think she was shifting right & wasn’t sure she wanted to go out on her own.  I drove it & disagreed.  But whatever.

As we got into the next town, (Pinedale, WY) we stopped in the visitor’s center.  I wanted to confirm the route & see what they had to offer.  After 10 minutes inside, we were unhooking the Fit & they were off for more recon.

Rita & I drove on, wanting to get over the mountain pass in the Tetons near Jackson, WY.  Jackie & the boys horsed around in Pinedale then went on an excursion.

Pretty nice drive, we drove under some antelope migration bridges.  They are huge over passes built on migration routes & the antelope cross over on their way to summer pastures.  It’s a big deal because the herds are huge.  These antelope overpasses are huge.  only thing missing is roads.  It's all pasture.....

As we got into Jackson, WY the route had a noticeable incline.  Gone is the cruising at 60.  This was a mountain pass.  CC never faltered but this was some steep climbing.  She powered up one side, cleared 8,200 feet & the charge down hill was on

. 

We thought we had everything secured for driving, but that is flat-lander talking.  A we were on this ridiculous downward angle, plus switch backs  & Jake brakes fully engaged  everything not anchored down joined us in front.  Including the apples, who decided a safe place to hide were behind the gas & brake pedals.  But we got it all straightened out & nothing was damaged.

The base of the pass was Victor ID, so we took a much-needed break at the Brakeman.  Advertised as the best burgers around.  The advertising was CORRECT.  I had the special & Rita had an elk burger.  Both with a huge serving of Idaho potato French fries, go figure.

Found our campsite, Henry’s Lake State Park with no problem.  Nice paved park with a great view if the lake.

The view after we were all set up!

Sunset!!

First light with clouds in the valley

Heading into Yellowstone tomorrow....

Internet is getting harder to find.

OK the advertised internet is elusive.

And cell phone signal is questionable.

Looks like my posts will be made after we get home...

The Road to Yellowstone

Laramie worked out well.  Good night sleep & hit the road first thing in the morning.  Slowly climbing the mountains.  CC is doing great even with the incline the cruise isn’t wavering….

Got to Rock Springs, WY in western Wyoming & left the interstate & headed north on the two lane highways.  We disconnected the Honda from the back & the kids are on recon mode.

Pulled in to a nice RV park in Boulder, WY.  Population 750.  Nice RV Park.  Big level spots.  Set up a breeze on an almost perfectly level site.  Plus they let me wash CC.  It was raining off and on the whole trip & she was the dirtiest she has ever been.  Both boys helped me & she is shiny…

It's easy to work with this view.

I grilled some chicken & the boys started a campfire.  After dinner we invited the neighbor over.  Don was from Alberta Canada.  He & his wife RV about 6 months out of the year.  They are working their way back to Canada from Texas & are meeting friends in Yellowstone.

Then we invited the other neighbors, Steve & Joanne Hall.  He is a retired Police captain from Rhode Island & she retired from teaching.  They are full-timer & travel with their 3 kids.  She home schools them & they try to host @ campsites.

While we were sitting there another camper came by asking where we got our firewood.  We pointed out the office but invited her to our fire.  Leika & Marcel joined in.  They are from the Netherlands and flew to the US, rented an RV & are touring the Rockies.  What an eclectic group we have.

The kids are all off playing some sort of game in the dark.  We are drinking pitchers of Rita’s margaRita’s, all is good.  We stayed up past midnight talking about RV’ing, the places we all came from, and how to solve the world’s problems.  I’m not sure I really remember.  But we had a blast.

Woke up in pretty good shape and headed for Yellowstone in the morning. 

"Go west young man"

If that is what Horice Greeley wants me to do then that is what I am going to do. Plus Rita said our very first big trip had to be to Yellowstone, but as you may know Williamsburg, Washington DC, and Gettysburg won out last year. 

So this year one tick off of Rita's bucket list. Yellowstone here we come! 

Worked all day Friday and pulled out with me, Rita, Jackie, Hunter, and AJ at 5pm and took a chunk out of the mileage. Drove till midnight about 420 miles, and covered 4 states ( Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska). We boondocked in a Walmart parking lot in Nebraska City, Nebraska. 

Woke up early to a beautiful red and orange sunrise over Walmart. The boys air mattress had a leak so fortunately there was a Walmart nearby. New air mattress and travel coffee mugs now on board.

Decided to crock pot dinner (Pot Roast and French Onion Soup-- thanks Window) to have a pleasant smell while driving to our next stop. We do this by getting everything prepped and cooking and then put the crock pot in the sink while we drive so it doesn't slide around. 

Pulled out of the parking lot 8 am heading for I-80.  2 hours under our belt, how come I don't smell anything. Crock pot dead, damn it no Walmart around. Fortunately smaller back up crock pot up and running. 

Beautiful Nebraska day driving down I-80

On a side note a quick your welcome to the citizens of Nebraska in 4 hours of driving we have successfully eliminated 1.2 gazillion bugs. 

We made a pit stop at a a rest area so I could stretch our legs. Jackie popped open her geocaching app (she might just be addicted) and found 2 caches that they made quick work of. Then back into CC to get some more miles in. Me and Rita relaxing in front while the Laminack's all laid around the back reading books and Nooks. Mostly because Jackie makes them read for an hour everyday.

Got a little shoulder rub during one of our stops. I knew being married to a massage therapist would have benefits.

Spending the night in Laramie, WY. 

The altitude here is interesting.Started out at home at 425 feet above sea level (FASL).  Spent the night at 1000 FASL.  Lunch on the way at 2000 FASL.  Shoulder massage at 5000 FASL.  Spent the night at 7127 FASL.......

 More tomorrow as we head HIGHER.....